Following a flurry of activity at the WHL Trade Deadline, the Red Deer Rebels, sporting a revamped roster, travelled to Medicine Hat Friday night hoping to break their recent slump. However, the hometown Tigers dominated the game, firing 42 shots on net compared to the Rebels’ mere 13. The result was a decisive 8-1 win for Medicine Hat. Red Deer’s only bright spot came in the second period when Nolan Schmidt scored his first-ever WHL goal.
Bryce Pickford scored his 18th goal of the season to make it a 1-0 game for the Tigers at 13:29 of the first period with the assists on the goal going to Minnesota Wild 2024 second round pick Ryder Ritchie and Gavin McKenna.
World Junior D Man and newly acquired Tanner Molendyk made it a 2-0 game at 4:19 of the first period with the assists on the goal going to Cochrane, Alberta native Kaden McCann and 16 year old Markus Ruck.
Shots on goal in the first period were 10-6 for the Tigers
Nolan Schmidt scored his first WHL goal to make get the Rebels on the board and get them within one just 1:37 into the first period with the assists on the goal going to Talon Brigley and Jaxon Fuder.
Former Kelowna Rocket Marcus Pacheco scored to make it a 3-1 game for the Tigers short handed at 8:35 of the second frame with the helpers on the goal going to Kadon McCann and goaltender former Lethbridge Hurricane 20 year old Harrison Meneghin.
Marcus Pacheco got his 5th goal of the season and second goal of the game at 9:58 of the second period with the assists on the goal going to Gavin McKenna and Finnish Import Niilopekka Muhonen
Florida Panthers draft pick Hunter St. Martin made it a 5-1 game for the Tigers when he potted his 26th goal of the season at 19:05 of the second period with the assists going to Jonas Woo and Matthew Ward.
Shots on goal in the second period were 14-4 for the Tigers.
Ethan Neutens made it a 6-1 game when he scored at 2:21 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to 16 year old Lethbridge native and former Calgary Canuck Carter Cunningham and Finn Veeti Vaisanen. New goalie Matthew Kondro was also in net for the Rebels to start the third period.
Oasiz Wiesblatt made the game 7-1 when he scored his 18th goal of the season at 6:52 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Ryder Ritchie and Gavin McKenna.
Marcus Pacheco got his hat trick goal at 19:08 of the third period short handed too, with the assist going to Matthew Ward. That was Pacheco’s second short handed goal of the game.
Shots on goal in the third period were 18-3 for the Tigers with the Tigers outshooting the Rebels 42-13 in the game.
Harrison Meneghin made 12 saves on the 13 shots that he faced for the win for the Tigers. For the Rebels Chase Wutzke stopped 19 of the 24 shots that he faced in the first 2 periods for the Rebels. He was relieved in the third period by Matthew Kondro who stopped 15 of the 18 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Marcus Pacheco 2) Gavin McKenna 3) Harrison Meneghin
Attendance in Medicine Hat was 3712
Rebels next game is Saturday January 11th in Red Deer when they take on Matteo Fabrizi and the Prince Albert Raiders.
